Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Week 8, Day 2

Today we learned about Binomial Expansion. When you write out the coefficients for a binomial that is raised to a power, you are expanding a binomial. There are two methods of expansion, both of which provide binomial coefficients. The first is Binomial Theorem, which states that in the expansion of 
(x + y)^n: (x + y) ^n = x^n + (nx^n-1)y +...+ (n)C(r) (x^n-r)y^r +...+ nxy^n-1 + y^n.The coefficient of (x^n-r)y^r is given by a procedure known as combination: (n)C(r) = n! / (n-r)!r!. The second is Pascal's Triangle, in which the first andlast number in each row is 1. Every other number in each row is formed by adding the two numbers immediately above the number. A basic illustration of Pascal's triangle is:


To expand a binomial, it is easiest to use Pascal's Triangle as shown below:


Because the exponent of the binomial is 6, you would use the 6th row of the triangle. Using the given coefficients, write each appropriate term, and simplify. 








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